The Leeds winger played a big role for Northern Ireland but suffered heartbreak in the last 16.

Leeds United winger Stuart Dallas suffered heartbreak with Northern Ireland at Euro 2016 on Saturday, and he has now given his reaction to his country's defeat to Wales to the Whites' official website.

Michael O'Neill's side lost 1-0 to their home nations rivals on Saturday thanks to a late Gareth McAuley own goal to exit the tournament at the last-16 stage after a successful group stage campaign.

Dallas played a significant role for his country in France, featuring in all four of their matches and playing the full 90 minutes in every game except the opening defeat to Poland.

For the 25-year-old, the experience of being a regular starter at a major tournament was the icing on the cake after his impressive debut season at Elland Road, in which he netted five times in 43 Championship appearances.

However, the winger could only express his disappointment after seeing his country's run ended in such cruel fashion earlier this weekend.

Dallas told the Leeds website: "We’re proud of what we’ve achieved, but we’re disappointed too. We knew we could give them a good game, like we have done with everybody we’ve played in the competition.

"We were confident going into the game that we could get a positive result. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t do that. We’re obviously disappointed with the outcome of the result – we put a lot into the game but didn’t get that bit of luck - Wales got that bit of luck with the own goal.

"But everybody is proud of what we’ve achieved. We’ll go back now, have a break and go back to our clubs and then get back together in September ready to go again."

Dallas may have suffered heartbreak this summer, but once the manner of defeat has had time to sink in he will surely be looking forward to returning to pre-season training under new Leeds boss Garry Monk.

Monk's predecessor Steve Evans saw Dallas as a key player for the club after his arrival last summer, and Dallas' performances this month will have gone a long way to proving to Monk that he should once again be a fixture in the starting XI next term.

Tom Nightingale

After starting to write about football due to lack of any great ability on the pitch, Tom is an NCTJ-qualified sports reporter who has written for Swansea City, the Birmingham Mail, and numerous other publications. An avid Aston Villa fan, he still hasn't got over them not turning up in the 2015 FA Cup final.